Dates for ER closures at Concordia, Seven Oaks confirmed

Concordia Hospital's emergency department will close in June 2019, the WRHA confirmed today, May 31, 2018.

Two more Winnipeg emergency rooms will close by September 2019, a process some unions allege threatens to overwork staff and undermine the quality of patient care.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority released the updated timeline for Phase 2 of its health-facility overhaul Thursday, which revealed Concordia Hospital’s emergency department will close in June 2019 and Seven Oaks General Hospital’s ER will be converted into an urgent care centre in September 2019.

The WRHA hasn’t yet finalized how Concordia’s ER space will be used in the future.

The government originally expected to close the two ERs this spring and complete its entire transformation in about two years. But those targets were delayed after a Wait Times Reduction Task Force report warned Winnipeg’s remaining three ERs wouldn’t be ready in time to handle the increased demand.

“It’s important that we get it right, not necessarily that we get it done tomorrow,” said Lori Lamont, the WRHA’s vice-president of nursing and health professionals.

Lamont said the adjusted timeline ensures the two ER closures won’t occur until after emergency departments at Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface Hospital are enhanced. Grace Hospital’s emergency department, which will join HSC and St. B as one of three remaining ERs after the transformation, recently completed its expansion.

Victoria Hospital’s ER shut down last year.

The WRHA expects the changes will allow the concentration of specialists and equipment at facilities with the types of patients that need them, ultimately improving patient service and cutting wait times.

The authority credits Phase 1 changes for sparking a 15% decline in median ER wait times to 1.63 hours, as of April 30, when compared to the previous year.

Unions that represent Manitoba’s health-care workers, however, argue the changes will stress workers and reduce the quality of care they can provide. The Canadian Union of Public Employees is instead lobbying government to abandon both 2019 ER closures.

“Concordia is so far from (other health facilities) that that’s where I believe that … people (won’t) know where to go in an emergency situation,” said Debbie Boissonneault, president of CUPE local 204.

And Sandi Mowat, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said she’s concerned nurse overtime will rise after the changes, something she says continues to occur at St. Boniface hospital, in the wake of Phase 1.

“We’ve got very busy, overworked nurses working with patients with increasingly complex needs,” said Mowat.

Michelle Gawronsky, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, agreed.

“Further cuts will only continue to disrupt patient care and increase workloads. That is no way to treat patients nor hard-working health-care workers,” wrote Gawronsky, in an email.

But Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the revised timeline will ensure the system has the capacity to close the ERs before they shutdown. He noted further adjustments can also be made at each step, if they’re warranted.

“We’re following evidence and adjusting as we go along, as a result of that evidence,” said Goertzen.

“If they close Concordia, if they close Seven Oaks, that’s 10s of 1,000s of patients who are going to have to go to the remaining emergency departments in the city … and (experts say), in their current states, those emergency departments are not equipped to handle that influx of patients,” said Kinew.

Kinew said he’s also not convinced that government fully assessed a wait times report recommendation that called for the reconsideration of the Seven Oaks ER closure.

“The government is rushing through these closures in order to meet an arbitrary timeline,” he said.

The new timeline for Phase 2 initiatives of the Winnipeg health facility consolidation includes the following:

• Beginning in 2018: Concordia Hospital and Seven Oaks General Hospital shift capacity and focus to less serious community hospital care and transitional care services.

• September 2018: Community intravenous program moves from Lions Place to the former site of urgent care at Misericordia Health Centre.

• December 2018: Mental health services consolidate from Grace and Seven Oaks General Hospital into Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface and Victoria General Hospitals.

• January 2019: HSC expands emergency department to open a mid-to-low acuity area of treatment.

• January 2019: Surgical slates shift from Seven Oaks General Hospital to other sites.

• Spring 2019: St. Boniface emergency department expansion continues, with new triage, waiting area and mid-acuity treatment space opening. (Undated changes will also add two beds to the acute cardiac care unit and add 16 beds to the inpatient cardiology unit, both also at St. Boniface Hospital.

• June 2019: Concordia Hospital emergency department closes.

• Summer 2019: Further expansion of St. Boniface emergency department is completed, with renovated high-acuity and resuscitation space opening.

• August 2019: HSC surgical ICU expands.

• September 2019: Transition of Seven Oaks General Hospital emergency department to an urgent care centre.

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